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Public's business should be public

As the DPS board moves forward with electing a new member, it should be more transparent.

By The Denver Post Editorial Board

Posted:
03/06/2013 12:01:00 AM MST

Updated:
03/06/2013 07:13:48 AM MST

In 2011, the Colorado Court of Appeals held that the Fort Morgan City Council did not violate the state's open meetings law when it used secret ballots to fill a vacancy.

When the Supreme Court failed to take up the case, the legislature passed a bill to address the issue.

As last week's secret vote to select three finalists to fill a vacancy on the Denver Public Schools Board of Education demonstrates, the law doesn't go far enough.

The public's business — including appointments to fill vacancies — should be conducted in the open.

House Bill 1169, which passed last year, was ostensibly crafted in response to the Fort Morgan case. It declared that government bodies cannot adopt any "policy, position, resolution, rule, or regulation or take formal action" by secret ballot. But it allows secrecy when filling vacancies and making appointments.

That is a mistake.

Defenders of the practice contend it helps to avoid the problem of new members knowing who — and who did not — support them. But the aim of the state's open meetings laws should not be to assuage the feelings of elected officials.

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In the case of the DPS vacancy, an EdNews Colorado reporter figured out which of the finalists members supported based on comments in the meeting.

Because reporters may not be present at every public meeting, there should be a public record chronicling vacancy and appointment votes.

The value of openness was also on display last month when the Colorado Latino Forum complained that none of the nine candidates selected to potentially fill the vacancy was a Latino. Board members Arturo Jimenez and Jeannie Kaplan signed a letter supporting the group's position.

Because the voting that winnowed the list from 25 to nine was secret, we don't know who Jimenez and Kaplan supported. But rules dictating each member's first pick would be named a finalist make clear that neither of them supported a Latino with their top selection. Beyond that, we have little idea whom they supported.

And that's the problem.

As such, even though the law doesn't require it, we urge the DPS board to vote publicly when they select a new member from the field of three remaining candidates.

Recorded votes bring accountability to the political process — which is why lawmakers should update the law to require all votes of a public body be conducted in the open.

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